


Words of Affirmation

by hopeless_eccentric



Series: (Free! That's right! Free!) Penumbra Commissions [23]
Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Banter, Canon Compliant, Enemies to Friends, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Mild Hurt/Comfort, a will they/wont they of admitting to tolerating each other if you will, if canon won't make them friends I WILL, or well. we'll get there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:08:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27568777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopeless_eccentric/pseuds/hopeless_eccentric
Summary: Vespa, frankly, had an abysmal bedside manner. However, it was exactly what Juno needed. He was pretty sure a part of her knew that too.If he felt like he needed to lash out, she would spit an insult in return just as fast. If she was stressed, she held no qualms about letting him know with a growled out verbal barb that was as much catharsis as it was an opening to let some of his internalized anger out in return. He wasn’t entirely sure what a therapist would say about it, but, in their own way, the pair of them had found a form of compassion that they could exercise without actually having to admit to tolerating one another.Free commission for @pisswizards420 on tumblr!!
Relationships: Vespa Ilkay & Juno Steel
Series: (Free! That's right! Free!) Penumbra Commissions [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1921492
Comments: 34
Kudos: 108





	Words of Affirmation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CertifiedPissWizard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CertifiedPissWizard/gifts).



> Hey all, this one's pretty light, but I thought I'd leave some content warnings anyway!!
> 
> Content warnings for mentions of former alcohol dependency, brief negative self talk, injury, a blood mention, and some minor gun violence

Juno had been shot more times than he could count on one hand, which is what Vespa said he’d have left if he kept up the track record. 

As much as he wanted to snap and say he didn’t exactly waltz in front of the lasers, then smile and wave, he knew she was right. He’d spent a few too many instances as a damage sponge and far too many years okay with that. 

Like most things he used to ruminate on with the distorted reflection at the bottom of his glass, his time on the Carte Blanche had seen it fading. Buddy liked to keep her family uninjured, and if that failed, she liked to keep them on the ship and resting. He had a crew that tried to divert him out of harm’s way, even with a doctor who threatened to push him into it. 

Juno also had the feeling that he could get used to this kind of luxury. When he woke up with an ache, he didn’t wake up with a hangover to boot. He didn’t run into danger so much as danger ran into him, and when it took a chunk of him for the road, he never had to stitch it back up himself. Gone were the days of a dingy apartment and a first aid kit and an ice pack that he never gave time to freeze all the way again between his injuries.

He couldn’t complain about his situation, except for the fact that it had been a very long time since he had last been used to the present feeling of a laser tearing into his side.

By the time he hit the ground, a pair of security guards on his tail and Vespa sputtering out a string of curses from up ahead, he couldn’t remember if he had tripped before or after the laser hit. It seemed a trivial detail to focus on, but with the pre-pain numbness of a kill laser crackling like lightning, just waiting to be let loose into the side of his abdomen, Juno knew it was best to find a distraction as fast as possible.

“Dammit, Steel, do I have to do everything myself?” Vespa cried from up ahead.

“Yeah, that’s kinda how a two-lady mission works when one of them goes down,” Juno shot back, voice an octave up. 

“You’re gonna regret this,” she hissed.

“Already do,” he laughed mirthlessly.

The hallway was barely lit by more than an exit sign. That had been Rita’s work. However, it jolted to life with bolts of sizzling cyan, as many from Vespa’s blaster as from the guards growing ever closer. Juno recognized the flashing green light on the side of her weapon as the stun button, though as she sank shot after shot into the guards until they did little more than twitch with each added bolt of electricity, he had a feeling they wouldn’t be waking up soon anyway.

“Dammit, I’m gonna need a new cartridge,” she grumbled as she sank to her knees. Faintly, Juno heard her rummaging through her pockets.

“Like it’s my fault you just blew your whole damn gun on two guards,” Juno huffed. “And didn’t think to bring a new one.”

“Shut up,” Vespa growled. “I don’t have the kind of anesthetic I want, so if you move, this is gonna hurt like hell.”

“Ugh. Fine,” Juno groaned.

A part of Juno that had grown taciturn with the recent changes to his life, though no less cruel, muttered that he should be on his feet and running, rather than dragging the entire mission down because of a scrape. Another part of him prepared a wave of anger that the first one spoke at all, but Juno took a breath and shook his head.

Vespa, frankly, had an abysmal bedside manner. However, it was exactly what Juno needed. He was pretty sure a part of her knew that too.

If he felt like he needed to lash out, she would spit an insult in return just as fast. If she was stressed, she held no qualms about letting him know with a growled out verbal barb that was as much catharsis as it was an opening to let some of his internalized anger out in return. He wasn’t entirely sure what a therapist would say about it, but, in their own way, the pair of them had found a form of compassion that they could exercise without actually having to admit to tolerating one another.

“Was the laser stun or kill?” 

“My guts are making pals with the floor, Vespa, what the hell do you think?” Juno grimaced, for the thorns of jolting pain that were never meant to course through the living had begun to sink their teeth into him.

“Finally, someone likes you,” she huffed. 

“Hey, I just got shot, and you’re—“

“Saving your goddamn life, Steel,” Vespa interrupted.

Juno groaned, half from pain and half from annoyance. Vespa didn’t seem to care, instead sinking her hand back into her bag to dig around from medical supplies. At first, he couldn’t see exactly what she had drawn from her pocket, but when she stuck it between her teeth and whacked the end, Juno found himself blinded by a penlight.

“You’re a doctor,” he complained. “You’re not supposed to hurt me worse.”

“And you’re not supposed to be bitching at me for saving your sorry ass, but here we are,” Vespa shot back. 

Juno had long since squeezed his eyes shut and let his head fall back against the floor in a desperate attempt to free himself of the sight and smell of blood. However, that seemed to be making little better, so in a last-ditch effort for comfort, he wrenched the fabric of his pant leg into his hand and dug his nails in.

“Don’t tense so much,” Vespa warned. Even though the light slurred her words, they were already obscured by the gasp Juno sputtered out when whatever unseen machine she kept stuffed in one of the many pockets of her cargo pants got close to the injury.

“Yeah, do you think you’d be tense right now or what?” Juno sputtered.

“Move your arm,” Vespa growled in return. “You’re getting in my way.”

Juno prepared a barb, but had none. He instead saw fit for a petulant glare as somehow, the locked joints of his fingers fell away from the cloth they had been tearing into for comfort. 

His former luxury of being entirely unseen had long since dissipated, which meant that when his hand still scrabbled along to floor to find something to grasp, Vespa was able to roll her eyes and seize his hand.

“You’re fucking dead if you mention this,” she warned, giving Juno’s hand a testing squeeze, as if she was making sure he wasn’t going to tear her fingers off. 

“Don’t worry. If Ransom found out, he’d never let me forget it,” Juno grimaced, his pride long forgotten when he focused on the catharsis and distraction of his steadily cramping fingers.

Vespa proved once more to be a hell of a strategist, for Juno only realized he hadn’t squirmed or complained for the remainder of the procedure until the machine finished whirring and Vespa cast his hand away as if it were a venomous animal. She jumped to her feet and wiped the same hand on the leg of her pants with a shudder.

“Hey,” Juno complained, sitting up. “I’m not that gross.”

“You pour your milk before your cereal,” Vespa retorted.

“Help me up,” Juno ignored her..

Vespa grasped and dropped his hand in quick succession, though not so quickly that he couldn’t get to his feet and begin the limping walk back to where Buddy’s voice in his comms told him Jet had parked the Ruby 7. 

Vespa paused for a moment, mouth open and face in a strange expression, as if something she wouldn’t usually say were poised on the tip of her tongue and ready to be set free. After a second, she shook her head and cast the thought away. Juno let his own gaze fall back towards the hall ahead of them as they trudged forward, and Vespa only spoke again when their footsteps had filled the pause in conversation enough for her pause to be forgotten.

“I’m not carrying you back like your dumb boyfriend,” she huffed after a brief silence. “So you’d better be able to walk.”

“Hey,” Juno protested. “It’s sweet.”

“Well quit it, ‘cause somebody’s gonna rot a tooth out,” she growled. “And I don’t want it to be me.”

“Fine,” Juno huffed.

“How are the stitches?” Vespa asked after a few more steps.

“Fine,” Juno repeated. 

“How’s your pride?”

Juno glared. 

“Injured, okay?” He shot back. “God, I thought doctors were supposed to heal you.”

“I’ll shoot you again,” Vespa warned, though her threat sounded almost half hearted. 

Juno huffed and Vespa sniffed and they both resolutely decided not to look at one another. They kept up the streak all the way back to the ship, at which point they only shared a brief glance and nod at the mention of Juno’s injury during the family meeting. At that point, Nureyev’s face twisted into worry and he squeezed Juno’s already sore hand while Vespa stifled a cackle and Juno stifled a glare.

Their silent agreement was a strange one, Juno had to admit. That didn’t mean something in his chest didn’t well with appreciation for the twin aches in his side and hand, which were far kinder than the alternative.

**Author's Note:**

> Folks lemme tell ya. I would pay all both of my dollars to see these two become friends. Write the canon you want in the world
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!! Make sure to SMASH that kudos button and leave a comment down below or I'll insert halfhearted threat here
> 
> Check me out on tumblr @hopeless-eccentric or on twitter @withane22 !!


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